I assume that the food varies considerably from one region to another in Thailand. Anyone care to give a shot at briefly describing the differences?

I can't help, but there is a book published by Lonely Planet and written by Joe Cummings that deals solely with Thai food. It covers regional differences.

I think most of the variations would be due to what is available locally - i.e. what is fresh: fish and coconut milk in the south, for example. The other variation that comes to me off the top of my head is "sticky rice" sometimes called jasmine rice, which is served mostly in the north.

There is also a most marvelous dessert that we had in Ayuthaya (sp). A very light "crepe" with a sweet filling almost like cotton candy. Yum!! The friend who took us to Ayuthaya said it was something special for that area.

Just to correct something another poster said, Jasmine rice is the 'normal' non-sticky rice that most Thais eat.

As others have noted, there are not only regional variations based on what was traditionally available, but each village or district may have it's own specialities. In Ayuthaya it's the horribly sweet cotton candy burritos, in Petchburi it's a sort of custard, in Chiang Mai it's fried pork skins with green chili dip, in Chiang Rai it's raw pork sausage, etc., etc., etc.

When visiting a new town, I always try to find the main municipal markets. They always have great photo ops and you can often very quickly determine what the local specialty is.

After some research, I think Michael is correct. However, some rice in the US marketed as "Jasmine" is very much like the northern Thai sticky rice - at least that's what I have found in my kitchen.

Thai food can be described as having 4 main type or tastes from the following region - Northern, Northeast(E Sarn), Central and Southern. Food type is quite distinctively different from one region to another in term of taste, presentation and level of spiciness.

Apart from the 4 regions there is also a distinctive style of food from the Royal court of Thailand. These are hard to find in restaurant although quite a few offer such menu but the authenticity of the taste is questionable.

Here's a good website that I've found that describe the differences for the regional Thai food.

http://www.yummytaste.com/ingeneral/...haicuisine.htm

Issan (the North East) is very spicy, even by Thai standards (and probably my favourite region).

In the North and North West Khao Soi is a very popular dish which is a Burmese influenced curry/ soup served with a selection of 7/9 condiments & accompaniments - delicious! Another staple dish in the north is sticky or glutinous rice (not jasmine rice which is the normal thai rice)- usually served with a a variety of curies and you roll the rice into a ball with your hands, dip into the curry and eat!

The South of the country tends to be influenced by Malaysia with more coconut based, Muslim type curries.

Bangkok tends toward the traditional Royal Thai cuisine which has been exported to the rest of the world and is most familar to those from the west.

"Tourist Thai" cuisine is widely available and is the Thai concept of what the tourist is looking for i.e. basically no chilli!

I think you can get most regional food in specialty restaurants in Bangkok.

As for Chiang Mai, definitely try
Kaw Soi - curry noodle

Sticky rice with spicy sausage, fried pork chop & nam prik nom (green chili dip.) ohh... yummm.... cheap too.


North east is famous for
Som Tum (papaya salad) & Kai Yang (BBQ chicken) & sticky rice.